Sail Away to Stornaway

Near Marbhig

“It’s always good to have someone at each end.” The men holding the doors for me on the upper and lower decks both visibly reddened and chortled at the unintended double entendre. Scampering off with Mr Fluffy’s tray of smoked duck salad, I wondered how I can often manage to sound a teeny bit filthy without intending to.

The Fluffster and Hugo sat on the upper deck of the Stornaway - Ullapool ferry trying not to get seasick; hence my servant status. Luckily it was the calmest sailing Graham has had. The last time he did this crossing it was the 80s and he spent the majority of the trip draped over a toilet empty the contents of his stomach as the ferry was flung around by gigantic waves.

One of our favorite Callanish stones

We’ve had amazing weather and we were lucky enough to park overnight at the Standing Stones of Callanish (with permission I might add). I’ve been wanting to get to Callanish for years so it was fantastic to be able to spend more than a few hours there. There are three separate sites within easy walking distance of the visitors’ centre, through rather muddy fields, but the slush is worth it. Next day we headed up to the northernmost point of Lewis to the Point of Ness where, every August, the local men head out to one of the islands to hunt gannets which are a delicacy in the area. The beach there is strikingly beautiful and it’s easy to see how it could get more than a little hairy in bad weather.

And another favorite

There is an area called the South Lochs which is a bit of a hidden gem according to the tourist literature. It is certainly extremely lovely and surprisingly free of tourists. The very helpful woman in the Ravenspoint Visitors’ Centre (An interesting museum and shop) suggested a gorgeous spot to overnight in Dickie. It was by a small loch near the village of Marbhig and to say it was idyllic would be an understatement. There were rarely any cars passing and all we could hear was the gentle lapping of the water and a few birds tweeting their happiness at living in such a fabulous place. There are sea eagles around there but we didn’t manage to see any unfortunately.

Callanish II stone

Near Ullapool there is a bay at a village called Ardmair which is also amazing. We parked here on our way to Lewis and on the night we returned as it was so lovely. We will definitely be back to this area of Scotland. The people are friendly and the scenery is to die for. I think next time we’ll head down to Harris and pick up a tweed or two.

An ancient Black Village

And now we are back to reality sitting in a caravan park near Inverness having just done all our washing, filled and emptied every Dickie receptacle as needed, and hoovered the seeming kilos of Hugo’s fur off the furniture. Wildcamping is great but it’s nice to get to a washing machine occasionally.

More Callanish Stones

Tomorrow we head to Findhorn and the east. Looking forward to what happens next.